Manually operated ice cube trays are well known to the art. Such trays are often utilized in, for example, freezers and refrigerator/freezer devices as an adjunct to automated ice makers or as the sole means of producing ice cubes. In the past, such trays were commonly fabricated of metallic materials such as aluminum, stainless steel etc. Such metallic trays often included individual cube shaped compartments that would be filled with water, placed in a freezer and allowed to stand until the water had fully hardened into individual ice cubes. Thereafter, in order to release the ice cubes therefrom, the bottom of such trays might be warmed with, for example, relatively warm water or other forms of heat. Other such trays included extraction devices which would, for example, enable walls of each cube forming compartment to be biased so as to physically eject the ice cubes. Simple sheering force might also be utilized to release ice cubes from metal trays wherein sharp tapping of the tray with or against a hard object would release the cubes.
More recently, flexible plastic ice trays have been widely utilized to manually form ice cubes. Such trays also often contained individual compartments wherein water was placed prior to placing the tray in a, for example, freezer. When the water in such trays had fully hardened into ice, such trays could be, by virtue of the flexible plastic from which they were made, be twisted in order to distort the individual ice cube compartments and force the ice cubes therefrom. With both metallic and plastic ice trays, it has heretofore been somewhat difficult to remove only one or a selected few cubes from the trays in which they were formed utilizing the above methods.
Upon releasing ice cubes from either metallic or plastic ice trays, the resulting ice might, for example, thereafter be placed in an ice bucket or open ice bowl to enable service of the ice therein to individuals desiring same. In order to remove the ice cubes form the bowls or buckets, one commonly utilized a large spoon, tong, or in some instances, one's fingers. Problematic of such methods, ice cubes are, by nature, slippery and are often dropped during spoon and, to a somewhat lesser extent, tong handling. Removing ice from a container with one's hand is, of course, wrought with dangers related to transmission of bacterial and viral infections.
To date, there has not been disclosed a simple and effective means of removing a selected cube or cubes from a manually operated ice tray without disturbing the remaining ice. There has also been no disclosure of an effective and efficient means of handling individual ice cubes without the use of spoons, tongs, or direct manual handling of ice.